Ali Mercer

Writer

Book group questions

The Family I Lost

composite image showing the author, a woman in a read top sitting by a garden table, holding up a copy of the book The Family I Lost, which has two girls standing back-to-back but with linked hands in shallow water, alongside three more pictures: the book cover next to a sprig of flowers and some tea, next to a cake and some tea, and the cover of another novel, A Child's Goodbye, which shows a woman embracing a boy in front of a lake at sunset, with a sprig of red flowers beside itHere are some book group discussion questions for my novel The Family I Lost.

1. Do you think Amy is a bad mother? Does she have any redeeming qualities? Why do you think she behaves the way she does towards Tilly?

2. Is it reckless of Lisa to take up the opportunity to get closer to Amy and Amy’s children? Why do you think she does it?

3. There are a lot of secrets in The Family I Lost. How do these affect Amy and Lisa and their relationships with other people?

4. What do you think Amy and Lisa are looking for, or missing? Is this the same as what they need? What are the biggest threats they face, and how do they overcome them?

5. Could The Family I Lost be described as a ghost story? How important are past events in Lisa and Amy’s present?